PRE-BILLER CAPABILITY IN ENHANCED CHARGING COLLECTION FUNCTION (CCF) APPLICATIONS
First Claim
1. In a telecommunications network, a method of performing the processing of off-line billed telecommunications calls, comprising the steps of:
- responsive to receipt of a telecommunications call, building up a call data record that is missing call cost data;
accessing a rating engine for calculating call cost data from parameters of said call stored in said call data record; and
completing said call data record including call cost data obtained from said rating engine;
characterized in that;
said rating engine is accessed for obtaining call cost data for off-line charged calls in such a way as to give preference to the rating of on-line charged calls and without reducing the capacity of said rating engine to rate on-line charged calls;
wherein a common rating engine is used for rating off-line and on-line rated calls;
wherein the completed call data record including call cost data is formed prior to transmitting said call data record to a billing system.
11 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for charging and billing of Circuit Switch, Packet Switch, and IP Multimedia Subsystems in third generation telecommunication systems. The charges for a call are computed by a rating engine, a software system comprising data tables and a program for calculating charges from the parameters of the call, such as the calling and called numbers, the length of the call, and special charge items such as priority service. For calls whose billing cannot be deferred, referred to as on-line billing calls, the rating engine is accessed immediately. For calls whose billing can be deferred, referred to as off-line billing calls, the rating engine performs its function only when the rating engine is not busy rating on-line billing calls, for example, during periods outside the busy hour. Advantageously, only a single rating engine is required, and the capacity of that single rating engine is determined only by the busy-hour volume of on-line billing calls.
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Citations
10 Claims
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1. In a telecommunications network, a method of performing the processing of off-line billed telecommunications calls, comprising the steps of:
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responsive to receipt of a telecommunications call, building up a call data record that is missing call cost data;
accessing a rating engine for calculating call cost data from parameters of said call stored in said call data record; and
completing said call data record including call cost data obtained from said rating engine;
characterized in that;
said rating engine is accessed for obtaining call cost data for off-line charged calls in such a way as to give preference to the rating of on-line charged calls and without reducing the capacity of said rating engine to rate on-line charged calls;
wherein a common rating engine is used for rating off-line and on-line rated calls;
wherein the completed call data record including call cost data is formed prior to transmitting said call data record to a billing system. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. In a telecommunications network, apparatus for performing the processing of off-line billed telecommunications calls, comprising:
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means, responsive to receipt of a telecommunications call, for building up a call data record that is missing call cost data;
means for accessing a rating engine for calculating call cost data from parameters of said call stored in said call data record; and
means for completing said call data record including call cost data obtained from said rating engine;
characterized in that;
said means for accessing said rating engine for obtaining call cost data for off-line charged calls gives preference to the rating of on-line charged calls without reducing the capacity of said rating engine to rate on-line charged calls;
wherein said rating engine is a common rating engine used for rating off-line and on-line rated calls;
wherein said means for completing said call data record transmits said completed call data record including call charging information to a billing system. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
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Specification